A Whole New Ballgame
by chaoscrafter008
Summary: How would your life be different for you if your childhood didnt pan out like you hoped it would. Would you still be a champion. Ash and Garys pokemon journey. NOT YAIO


**i donnot own pokemon **

Chapter 1

It was a bright sunny morning that greeted our hero upon waking up. The sun was well and truly risen and had begun peaking through his window.

A stray beam of light poked it's was through the window and shone in our heroes face.

CRASH "Owe!"

Ash woke up with a grown he had fallen out of bed again. He rubbed his head as he pulled himself up. "Stupid sun woke me up at the best part." He grumbled as he scratched himself. "Well no use crying about it might as well get up." He says as he walks across his room towards the door. When suddenly he stops.

"Wait I feel I am forgetting something." He ponders "well I'm sure it can wait until after my shower any way" he says to himself.

**15 minutes later in the kitchen**

Now clean and dressed ash heads down stairs to make himself something to eat.

"Hey ash what you doin here?" he hears as he makes his way into the kitchen.

Ash turns his head and sees mike one of the trainers staying in the trainer hostel.

Ash's families weren't that wealthy and to substitute a wage Ash's mother had about a dozen extra rooms added to the house to act as a trainer's hostel. Trainer hostel are pretty much like backpacker hostels in that they provide you with a roof over your head and a bed to sleep in but not much else all at a low price. Trainer hostels are also sponsored by the Pokémon league and as such registered trainers only pay a fraction of the cost to stay in one than if they stayed in a hotel instead.

Ash looked at mike blankly and said "wha? What do ya mean what am I doing here? I'm getting something to eat. Why you ask?" he finishes as he walks over to the fridge and opening it.

"O no reason just figured you would have already left to go get your starter from the professor by now that's all" mike finishes nonchalantly not noticing Ash's steadily pailing form almost sink to the floor in horror.

"O GOD THAT'S TODAY! NONONONO NO! I COMPLETELY FORGOT" ash screams near hysterically.

"Well you had better get a move on then I think the exam is still going on. If you hurry you can probably just get there in time." Mike says helpfully while ash pulls him self together.

"Right I'm on my way" ash yells as he sprints towards the front door.

**45 minutes later oaks Pokémon lab**

Samuel Oak sighed as he watched his only grandson choose his starter. It wasn't much of a choice Samuel already knew Gary would take the squitle if for no other reason than to be closer to his sister. This squirtle was one of daisies blastoise children and as such was guaranteed to be stronger than average what with its mother being shiny and all.

Finally Gary relented and picked up squirtles pokeball after which the other two trainers came forward and picked up their starters as well. Immediately after picking up the pokeballs both trainers thanked professor oak and turned to leave Samuel called out to them to speak to his assistant on the way out to finish the registration process before they leave. Both trainers nod and continue on. "Gary come here for a second." Calls the professor to his grandson. Gary walks over and sits in the indicated chair before the professor. "Now I know you wanted your parents here to congratulate you but I just got a call from them telling me they are still stuck in goldenrod as the train to kanto still isn't fixed yet. But they did want me to give you this." Oak hands over a set of 5 pokeballs to Gary who looks at them uncertainly. "these are pokeballs your mother had made for you to store your Pokémon in. these three are ultra balls which have a very high chance of catching Pokémon somewhere in the rang of 4-5x the success rate than ordinary pokeballs the other 2 are lure balls which according to her were made specifically for catch Pokémon when fishing." Gary looked down at the pokeballs again this time a little impressed before he frowns and says "awesome that's great b sure to thank them for me when you speak to them next." Samuel sighs again while nodding at his grandsons' comment. Gary hadn't spoken to his parents in nearly a year and a half after they went on their latest trip to improve kantos relationship with its neighboring regions as ambassadors.

It was at that tense moment that the door was practically smashed open and a panting ash Ketchum was seen holding a stack of papers in one hand and pointing at the professor with the other, "yo old man I'm here to chew bubblegum and get me a Pokémon… and I'm all out of bubblegum" ash says while striking a pose.

Oak face palms and mutters to himself about not letting impressionable children watch television.

Gary on the other hand grins and says "sorry loser but your to late all the starters are gone right gramps."

Oak looks at his grandson with a deadpan look says "thank you Gary for your gentle and kind word in this situation." You could practically taste the sarcasm. "Now if you wouldn't mind I would like to speak to ash in private. Go say good bye to your sister before you leave. I know how long you have wanted to go on your journey but say good bye to her before you leave. Ash this way please" with that professor oak leaves through another door and ash enters the room. Gary looks at ash while pocketing his presents and standing up from the chair "well ashy boy this is it next time I see you I will probably be Pokémon champion and you will still be stuck in this mud bucket toiling away for minimum wage. So ta-ta for now." With that Gary swiftly leaves the room. Ash not having a comeback not involving violence simply yells in rage. "oooh how I hate him." Ash seethes at the door Gary just walked through before following the professor into the backroom. The room was rather not descript in that it looked like most of the other rooms in the lab. The only differences ash could see about this room is that anything metal in the room had each corner or edge capped with rubber.

"This is where I research the more volatile electric Pokémon as you can see. Now the reason I have brought you in here is two fold no.1 I want you to meet someone and no2. Well we will see shall we?" Oak says in a mysterious voice.

"Umm professor not that that isn't interesting and all but I kind of came here to get my starter." Ash said somewhat nervously.

"Yes, yes, we will get to that in a moment but for now I want you to meet someone." Oak said in a dismissive voice. "Uh ok prof who am I meeting." Ash replies uncertainly to the slight smile oak gives him.

Professor oaks smile widens slightly as he reaches into his coat pocket and produces a single pokeball. "Ash allow me to introduce you to" a flash of white light and a brownish yellow mouse appears on the table. "Pikachu".

Ash looked curiously at the Pikachu. It was different than normal, slightly larger cheeks and fur the wrong colours than one normally sees on a Pikachu.

After a second oak continues "as you can see this is a very rare specimen I don't think I have seen a Pikachu this large in my life I have confirmed that it isn't a shiny and it is to small to a titan **(a/n will be explained later)** as near as I can tell this Pikachu came across some broken thunderstone fragments and this triggered a near evolution but the stones must not have been powerful enough to complete the transformation thus leaving Pikachu partially transformed. From what I gather Pikachu has a riachus energy potential but has maintained Pikachu's faster build." Oak explained as he walked behind the desk.

Pikachu looked at ash suspiciously as ash looked curiously at him. He had no idea who the new human was but he smelled of earth and sweat. Ash took a second to process what the professor had told him before asking "what does that mean professor is this a new evolution or what? How can a Pokémon only partially evolve?" the professor shook his head at Ash's comment and replied "well no ash it's not a new Pokémon, Pikachu here is about half was down his evolution I suspect if we were to introduce a thunderstone to him now he would evolve completely into a riachu. That being said I would never force a Pokémon to evolve, I would let it happen naturally or when it is ready. As it is Pikachu's partial evolution doesn't seem to affect it in any negative way so I do not see the reason to force his evolution. As for how a Pokémon can only partially evolve it is very simply. As you know most wild Pokémon survive off of berries or fruits they find while searching the forests, what you don't know is that most berries take on a trait they absorb from the surrounding earth around them, usually in harsher climates where the soil is less nutritious this leads to bitter tasting berries. Some berry though have been known to grow in areas where evolution stones are found, its these berries that cause wild Pokémon to evolve as when a Pokémon of the correct type eats enough of a particular berry it will undergo its evolution. That being said it also explains why certain Pokémon never evolve as the same thing occurs for Pokémon who consume berries infected with everstone." Oak lectures as ash nods his head.

Ash smiles and turns to Pikachu where he says "hey buddy how ya doin?" Pikachu blinks up at ash and says "pika? Pi pi" where upon he shrugs his shoulders, ash smiles down at him and reach out to scratch his head. Pikachu watches the hand mistrustfully as it comes down but doesn't flinch away at the contact ether. Pikachu closes his eyes as ash begins scratching behind his ears "cha, pika" he says in contentment.

Oak looks on with a smile he knew ash and this Pokémon would hit it off. Ash had a way off making everyone around him like him just by being there. From what he had gathered this Pikachu had been hunted by trainers for at least two weeks before he caught him, oak was lucky to catch him before he truly began disliking humans.

Ash looked up from Pikachu and caught the professors eye before asking "so what happens to this little guy now you wanted to show me him for a reason why?" oak smiled trust ash to get right down to the nitty gritty and say what is on his mind. "You are right ash I didn't bring you here only to introduce Pikachu here; I also called you here to tell you about your starter." At that Ash's face could have split in half at his grin. Oak continued "however you are the last to arrive and I had two new trainers show up from viridian unexpectedly to collect their starter Pokémon earlier today and as such don't have one ready for you." At this point oak put his hand up to stop Ash's from interrupting, Ash's face had taken on a look of abject horror at the concept that he may not get to start his journey. "However…" oak continued "seeing your interaction with Pikachu just now I was wondering if you would like to take him instead."

Ash stared blankly at oak for about five second before looking at Pikachu who was watching ash with a curious look on his face.

"What do ya say buddy want to be my Pokémon? I promise to look after you and stick by you no matter what happens." Ash says as he extends his hand for Pikachu to take.

Pikachu on the other hand looks at the strange human before him and considers his options on the one hand refuse, the grey human puts him back it the ball and he doesn't come out other than to eat and to run some tests. On the other go with the spiky black haired human and go on an adventure… yeah not much of a choice there. "chu pika-chu" Pikachu says taking ash hand and shaking it.

Ahs smiles and looks at the professor "I'm pretty sure that's a yes." Oak just nods his head and says, "well then congratulations ash on your first Pokémon. Before you head off home to pack your stuff I want to give you these as a parting gift for all the work you have done for me over the years." Oak walks around his desk and pulls out a small box from the top draw. "Inside that box you will find 7 pokeballs. Beginner trainers are given 5 pokeball to get them started off on their journeys the 2 blue balls you see in there are a gift from me they are called great balls and have a higher capture rating than standard pokeballs, somewhere in the vicinity of double a pokeball. Also in there is your pokedex I have taken the liberty of updating the software on it to record attacks as well as Pokémon, telling you about the effects those attacks have and how much damage they are likely to deal."

Ash sat stunned at professor oaks generosity after a second of staring at the box ash began thanking the professor. "Thank you sir I won't let this gift go to waste, I will take care of them."

"Well if that is all ash then I wish you and Pikachu luck on your journey, be sure to stop by and say your goodbyes to your mother before you head off, you know how she cares about you." Oaks say as ash takes his leave with Pikachu by his side.

Ash nod and over his shoulder replies "Sure prof. I will just grab my stuff, say bye to mom and head on out."

Ten minutes later Ketchum trainers' hostel

"Mom I'm back come out and meet my Pokémon" ash yells from the living room "coming sweetie" a feminine voice responds from upstairs. Five seconds later a rather attractive middle aged woman walks down the stairs. Delia Ketchum a brunette pallet town native was rather well kept with her hair tied back out of her face, a smile plastered on and a childlike look of curiosity permanently in place on her face. "Oh is that your Pokémon ash? Well introduce us." Delia says while gesturing at Pikachu. "Right mum meet Pikachu, Pikachu meet mom." Ash says getting the introductions over with.

"Pika" "Hello"

"Mum Pikachu is my starter I'm just here to get my stuff and I will be off. Pikachu this is my mum why don't you two talk while I get ready and then we can head out ok." Ash says as he makes his way across the room towards the stairs.

"Ok Pikachu I'm Delia Ketchum Ash's' mother and it's very nice to meet you" Delia says smiling down at Pikachu. Pikachu nods back with a slight smile and extends his hand for Delia to grasp. "Pikachu" Pikachu responds as Delia gently shakes his paw.

Delia looks at Pikachu for a second and continues "It's hard as a mother to say goodbye to her children especially when you have no idea how long they will be gone for. This is why I am asking you Pikachu to keep my son safe. I know he likes to think of himself as indestructible but he isn't so please watch over him for me." Delia begs of Pikachu.

"Pika" answers Pikachu in a solemn tone of voice as he nods his head.

Five minutes later Ash walks down the stairs wearing new clothes and with a backpack on. "Ready to go Pikachu?" he asks with a smile.

"Pika" Pikachu says with a smile of his own as he runs up to ash and climbs up his leg to sit on Ash's backpack.

With Pikachu secured and his bag all packed and ready Ash looks to his mom and says "Well this is it. I'm all ready good bye mom I promise to call as often as possible so don't worry about me ok."

"I know Ash but I want you to be safe. Call me when you reach viridian I want to know that you make it there all right." She says as she pulls ash into a hug. Ash smiles up at her "I will mum you can count on it." Ash says as he pulls away. And walks out the door.

"After it isn't a journey unless there are people to come back to."

* * *

><p><strong>this story is something i have been thinking about for a couple of months now it. Dont expect quick updates as i have difficulty staying on topic for more than 5 minutes at a time unless something really interests me.<strong>

**In regards to professor oaks comment about titan pokemon imagine them like shinies only rarer. titan pokemo are like bills dragonite in the anime and the giant magikarp from the orange island, they are pokemon that have grown to astronomical sizes and are generally much stronger for it.**

**this story will focus on garys and Ashs journey throughout Kanto and only generation 1 pokemon will appear. some moves from gen 2 will appear but other than that everything should be cannon.**


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